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I have recently become obsessed with making macarons. Not the coconut cluster dessert (aka macaroons) – but a delicate French dessert invented by a famous bakery in Paris called Laduree. Macarons are primarily made out of almond flour, egg whites, and icing sugar. While it sounds relatively simple in terms of the ingredients, the little … Continue reading →

Our week 3 culinary lab was the first time we were given a lot of creative freedom. Our task was to make a wild mushroom terrine (gross, tasted like cream of mushroom soup when it’s at room temperature and solidified), mango relish, and aspic. Aspic is basically clarified chicken stock mixed with gelatin; its … Continue reading →

Every Thursday morning, I receive a message from my sister saying “Swim Fishy, Swim!” or “Float Fishy, Float!” I finally decided to take care of something I have been avoiding for over three decades – learning how to swim. While for the most part my fear of drowning hasn’t been a major issue, I was … Continue reading →

The most interesting thing about starting a new semester is learning about the unique personalities of our new chefs. Our newest ones seem to have a hate on for freshly ground pepper topped on everything (it overpowers all the other flavours), Winterlicious, and the fact that Toronto has very little culinary innovation (the trend towards … Continue reading →

Many years ago, my sister and I decided we would never cook cauliflower again. We were home alone and decided to stir fry some cauliflower. Not only ddi it take forever to cook, but it was disgusting: mushy and stinky. We added water and covered it with a lid, hoping to speed up the cooking … Continue reading →

There is something delightful about turning a bunch of chicken bones or odds and ends into a delicious soup! Stocks were one of the first things we talked about in class – one of the fundamentals for building soups, stews, sauces etc. While I had made stocks in the past, it turns out that I … Continue reading →

I don’t like quiche – but I couldn’t stop eating this one! This recipe is delicious. We made this as part of “egg” week. Here is the recipe that we used at school. Ingredients For savoury pie pastry 350 g pastry flour 175 g cold shortening (keep in the fridge until you are ready to … Continue reading →

Of all the recipes I’ve come across during our first semester, this is my favourite recipe by far. The recipe is for a tasty chicken wrap that uses an ingredient called “ketjap manis”, a delicious Indonesian sauce that is similar to soy sauce, but has a richer and sweeter taste (contains molasses, burnt sugar, … Continue reading →

I forgot how much I like these cookies! This recipe is from the magazine Fine Cooking. The only thing I will do differently next time is add chunks of crystallized ginger. Ingredients 10 oz (2 + 1/4 cups) all purpose flour 2 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground … Continue reading →

Potato week was a bit too potato-y for my liking – I went home with 7 kg of potatoes! But it was still fun. Some interesting things that I didn’t know about cooking with potatoes: The salt water you use to boil potatoes (or pasta) should taste like sea water The trick to great potato … Continue reading →